North Koreans rally against the United States amid rising tensions

Thousands of North Koreans took part in anti-American rallies as the country celebrated the 73rd anniversary of the beginning of the Korean War, a conflict that saw the northern part of the peninsula invade the southern portion in an attempt to unify the two nations. 

More than 120,000 people took part in the many mass rallies that occurred in the capital city of Pyongyang and “manifested” their will to exert their revenge on imperialists in the United States for the aggressive war they started according to reports from state media. 

The Korean Central News Agency—a state-owned and operated outlet—noted that the United States had never been held accountable for the “war to obliterate” North Korea while the country was still in its cradle nor the crimes the U.S. committed against the country. 

Several high-ranking members of the North Korean government were present at the rallies including the Secretaries of the Central Committee of the Worker’s Party Ri Il Hwan and Pak Thae Song, as well as the Vice Premier of the Cabinet Ri Tu Song. 

Neither Kim Jong-un nor any members of his immediate family were present at any of the rallies in the capital. The speakers who addressed the assembled crowds stayed on message about the significance of the day and what it meant to most North Koreans. 

“Speakers at the rallies said [a] long time has passed since the Korean people were forced [into] a brutal war by the US imperialists,” the Korean Central News Agency wrote in an English post to the state-run news organization's website. 

“But June 25 remains in the hearts of the Korean people as a wound of grudge never to be healed and the Korean people had to undergo bitter pains and misfortunes owing to the war,” the North Korean news agency added. 

Most speakers focused on the idea that the United States had at one time tried to use an atomic bomb against North Korea and that American officials were determined to continue their push for military confrontation through “nuclear war exercises.”

The Korean Central News Agency also noted U.S. officials were instigating a conflict on the peninsula through their continued support for South Korea, a country the outlet said would serve as America's “shock brigade for aggressive war.”

“It clearly reveals that their aggressive nature will never change for all ages,” the Korean Central News Agency continued, adding that speakers at the rallies said it was now the duty of the current generation to “settle accounts with the US imperialists.”

Speakers also called on the government and people to conclude generations of conflict North Korea has faced from the U.S, in a separate report from the Korean Central News Agency post calling on ralliers to build the most “powerful country envied by the world.”

While the statements about the rallies from North Korea’s state-run media may appear a bit over the top, they are exactly the type of confrontational propaganda the country has been known to produce to show the inner unity of the last remaining communist state. 

The Associated Press noted in a report on the rallies that attendees were promoting the official state version of the Korean War, one which marks the U.S. as the aggressor in the conflict rather than the North Korean regime that started the war to unify the nations. 

Ralliers also expressed pride in their country’s burgeoning nuclear weapons program, a program one speaker insisted now gave North Korea the “strongest absolute weapon to punish the U.S. imperialists and the war deterrence for self-defense,” the AP reported. 

The anti-American rallies in North Korea come at a time when tensions in the region are rising after a cooling-off period under former president Donald Trump. North Korea fired two ballistic missiles in mid-June following drills staged by South Korea and the U.S. 

North Korea has test-launched roughly 100 ballistic missiles since the beginning of 2022 according to a separate report from the Associated Press, an issue that not only shows the country’s growing capabilities but also its willingness to confront its alleged enemies.